Carr doubles-down on pipeline support as Trans Mountain fight heats up

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr has been named Canada's new minister for international trade diversification. In this file photo, Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr talks with media in Ottawa on Thursday, October 5, 2017. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood

National Resource Minister Jim Carr doubled-down on his support for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion during an emergency debate Monday evening as tensions continued to escalate in Western Canada.

“The stakes are high and we are determined,” Carr told the House of Commons. The last-minute emergency debate was requested by Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs.

“We will not leave Canadian resources without access to markets,” Carr said adding the federal government is “clearly signalling that Canada is open for business.”

Ottawa is embroiled in an ongoing fight with British Columbia over the proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. The Alberta government and Ottawa back the project. British Columbia has said it is concerned about its environmental impact.

Carr has accused B.C. Premier John Horgan of jeopardizing the Canadian economy because of the B.C. government’s ongoing efforts to delay the project’s construction.

The situation escalated last week after the company behind the project, Texas-based company Kinder Morgan, announced it was suspending all “non-essential spending” on the $7.4 billion project. The company has given Prime Minister Justin Trudeau until May 31 to give a clear signal the project will proceed.

The domestic dispute forced Trudeau to interrupt a 10-day international trip to Peru, France and England and return to Ottawa briefly for an in-person meeting with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Horgan on Sunday. The prime minister has repeatedly insisted the project will go ahead, suggesting Sunday that Ottawa is prepared to invest financially in the project if necessary.

On Monday, Notley’s majority government introduced legislation that would restrict the flow of oil, gasoline and natural gas leaving that province, which could boost fuel prices in B.C. In response, B.C. Attorney General David Eby threatened to sue the Alberta government, calling the proposed legislation “unconstitutional.”

The federal government approved the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project in 2016. Since then, the Trudeau government has repeatedly said the decision falls within its jurisdiction. British Columbia disagrees, arguing it has the right to intervene in projects that directly affect British Columbians.

People in B.C. “are not trusting the government, are not trusting the process,” NDP interim leader Guy Caron told his colleagues.

“I understand and appreciate the views put forward by the governments of both British Columbia and Alberta,” Carr told MPs. “They are elected to represent the interests of their constituents as best they see them,” Carr said, before insisting the decision is Ottawa’s to make – and Ottawa’s to make alone.

“Mr. Speaker, there is only one Government of Canada. And the Government of Canada has determined that this project is good for Canada and in the national interest.”

Not everyone in the Chamber was in favour of Ottawa’s decision. The NDP, who find themselves sandwiched between two feuding NDP-led provincial governments have called on the Trudeau government to refer the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada.